Purification of sewage and other



Mayzl, 1935. WJONES Re. 19,577

PURIFICATION OF SEWAGE AND OTHERLIQUIDS Original Filed Aug. 8, 1919 j@ 1 if??? 21T l 1 l ReuuedMayZL-ISoS t j l Re, ,l

AUNITED STATES PTENT orFlcEj 19,571 ruarrrcrmou or sswscr: AND o'rm uoums Walter Jones, deceased, late oi' lStourbridge, England, by Activated Sludge, Inc., Chicago, lll., assignee, a corporation of Delaware Original No. 1,341,561, dated May 25, 1920, Serial No. 316,224, August 8, 1919. Application for reissue February 16, 1935, Serial No. 6,912

4 Claims (Cl. 21o-8) Thisinvention hasreference to systems of purition of the tank, and the air or a great part `of fying sewage and analogous impure liquids, in it is carried across the top of the tank by the which the liquid being purified has air introduced horizontal stream which ows from one side to into it, which passes through it, in the form of the other. Further, the upper part of the tanks 5 bubbles, and the liquid is circulated (in some v.or tank sections may be provided with an over- 5 cases the circulation being effected by the air so hangingfiow directing means, so as to guide and introduced into it), and the purification is eectcontrol the direction of current of liquid and air ed by aerobic bacteria and similar forms of germ passing upward, and so that here also it is posilife which are associated with sludge in the liquid, tively and gradually controlled and changed in and in the air, by which they are kept active and a direction from the vertical to the horizontal; l0

vigorous, and their purifying power maintained the plane of the under surface of these directing at a high state of efficiency. cverhanging parts or means, and that of the level In processes ofthe character referred to the of the liquid, being practically the same. The

commercial or industrial value of them depends in overhanging directing parts are relatively short, v a large measure upon the working costs of the and inside their surfaces are curved to a large l5 process, of which that of moving or forcing the radius,v 8S Stated, fIOm the Vertical t0 the hOriair used is one of the chief; and it has been prozontal; and they are provided on each side of, posed in systems of the character concerned to or across, the tanks or tank sections, and the diminish the quantity of air used and moved, by receiving overhanging curved part receives the lo closing the treating tanks above and causing horizontal current or ilow, and bends and directs thereby the air to be retained in the liquid a it downward gradually into the downward vergreater length of time. and so that the duration tical direction.

o f its action upon the liquid and bacterial sludge Between the overhang'lng directing parts the will be proportionately increased. That is, the tanks are open above, but, as stated, the direcair which is contained in the liquid, upon reachtion means at each side of the tank are sum- 25 ing the upper surface of the liquid, cannot imcient to cause the liquid t0 ow hOI'iZDnta-lly and mediately escape from it and as the liquid is cirto carry with it across the tank, and also down culated in the tanks or tank compartments, it again, a very Substantial PrOpOItiOn 0f the all' is carried in and by the horizontally owing delivered into it, and so the prolongation of relo upper portion of the liquid, and then also carried tention of the air is accomplished; and by this downward. 'I'he closing of sewage rtanks, howmeans the sweep of the liquid over the floor is ever, is objectionable on several grounds, and such that practically no deposit or accumulation one of the objects of the present invention is to of bacterial sludge takes place on it, inconsel provide a construction which, while the duration guence ci which the Asludge does not become Il of retention of the air in the sewage shall be indeteriorated, which would be inimical to the eicreased and thereby its action increased before it ciency of vthis bacterial sewage purification and passes away from same, the necessity of closing treatment.

the tanks or tank compartments is obviated; and 'I'he invention is illustrated in the accompanyin effecting this object, the mode of constructing ing drawing, with which it will be further de- 40 the tanks and carrying on the process within scribed, and in which Fig. 1 is a crossV section 40 them, hereinafter described, is employed. of a tank construction according to the invention;

The tanks or tank sections are formed or pro- Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 3, showing vided at the bottom with curved surfaces of large a modified form of tank; Fig. 3 is a section on radius at the corners where the current is to be line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a broken transverse 46 directed from the horizontal direction to the versection of a tank, the form of the invention be- 45 tical direction, the bottom being i'lat; so that the ing modified; and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal secstream ilowing in a. vertical direction downward. tion of a tank as illustrated in Fig. 7 of his is gradually bent and directed to pass to and flow earlier Patent No. 1,247,540, showing particularly in a horizontal direction; and in the case where the pipe connections for supplying air to the air l the up-stream produced by the discharge of air diiiusers. 50

into the liquid takes place'- near one Wall of the Referring to the drawing, I represents the bottank, the bottom is also similarly curved at the tom of the tank; 2 are longitudinal main and corner near that wall, so as to bend upward and division walls which separate the tank into a direct the current. By these means the stream plurality of lengths; 3' are the curved lower por-l i is controlled and directed by the bottom iormations `of the tanks connecting the vertical walls u with the bottom I, which is iiat between the parts 3; and 4 are the air diilusers disposed longitudinally in the tank, and at the point where the bottom I merges into one of the rounded portions 3. l

Figure 1 shows acase where the vertical up#- stream of liquid and air of the transverse circulation in the tank sections to the general direction of iiow takes place near one of the walls 2, and the diiusers 4 are near the point oi' the merging of a curved portion 3 with the' bottom I,

l while the other curved portion 3 at the other ,g by the bottom formation of the tank and forced Y by the air upward .near one wall 2, a large portion oi the air delivered into the liquid will be carriedacross the top oi' the tank bythe horizontal stream which ows from one side to the other.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. 2 and 3, overhanging flow directing means or part roofs 5 are employed, which are curved or formed on their inner surfaces similarly asthe-lower curved portions 3.

' 6 are transverse dlaphragms in the tank, which in Fig. 2 have openings 1 at one of their lower angles, adjacent to the air suppliers 4, so that all the liquid from one tank compartment or section formed by these diaphragms has to pass 'in its general longitudinal now through the tank.

over the air diffusera 4 and become supplied and charged with air bubbles, so that no part oi' the liquid can now through the tanks in its general longitudinal ow, without being supplied with and acted upon by the requisite quantity of air.

It will be seen that in this case (Figs. 2 and 3, and also in Fig, 4) the liquid has a general longitudinal iiow through the tank and a circulation in a direction at" right angles to same within the several compartments or sections, and in the tank shown in Figs. 2 and 3 it is assumed that the liquid will pass rst down through one length f ormreach of tank to its end, and then return "through another length or reach, and so on.

y2,'the air going through it It will be seen in connection with Figs. 2 andY 3, that the diffusers 4 being near one of the walls produce a column oi rising water and air along that side o! the `tank, and arriving near nthe tcp is bent and directed by the upper curved portion 5 (the level of liquid being about that indicated by the shaded lines) i'romy a vertical to a horizontal direction, and the stream traversing horizontally across the open space between the roof parts carries in its now a large portion of the air bubbles supplied to it, and having reached the opposite part 5it is again bent and directed downward toward the lower portion 3, which again. bends/and directs it horizontally across the floor I, the sweep of the'stream being such that no collection and stagnation of sludge can take place on fusers or air suppliers 4 in this case are shown H above the bottom'l, but near one side wall 2, and the passages 'i in the diaphragms 6 are directly in line and above the longitudinally disposed diusers or air suppliers 4.

By the arrangement and form oi tanks, and mode of operating, as herein described, it is possible to obtain a ilow oi considerable velocity around the periphery` of the tank, sufiicient to prevent the collection and stagnation of sludge on the bottom, for a relatively small volume of air, For instance, ordinary sludge free from inert matter or detritus can be kept in suspension in the `liquid and prevented from depositing and stagnating by a current having a velocity, say, o1' a quarter to half a foot per second; or if detritusl is allowed into the tank, a velocity of about two feet persecond is sufficient to keep it in motion and circulation. In the latter case a practically continuous velocity of from a quarter to half a foot per second would be required for the majority oi the time, and a'higher velocity occasionally by supplyingmore air, say once an hour for a short time. the duration oi' which would be sufcient to carry all inert matter or detritus which may be on the bottom to the diffuser.v

It a short period of less and greater air sup- -ply be arranged at, say every iifteen minutes,

the length of time of increased Supply and flow Vci! liquid maybe from, say 30 to 60 seconds, and

this would carry the detritus to the diiiuser in each period oi' increased now.

It is to be noted that this process of purifying sewage may be carried on in the existing conducting sewers or the like of a sewerage system, which will then in fact constitute the treating tanks or containers. For instance, the sewer may be constructedas set forthwith reference to Fig. 4.

` What is claimed is:

1. In a' puriilcation system, a tank divided into a plurality of communicating open chambers serially connected with one another, each chamber having its sewage inlet at one end and its sewage outlet at the other end, an air supplier for each chamber extending substantially con-ftinuously throughout the length thereof nearer to one of the side walls of said chamber than to the opposite wall of said chamber, the side walls oi' each chamber being formed to direct the iiow of liquid under the pressure of saidV air supplier in a circular path within the chamber, and the flow Aoi? sewage through each chamber from the inlet at one end to the outlet at the other end being continuous, causing a generally spiral iiow of the sewage within each chamber.

2. A relatively long and slenderopen sewage puriiication chamber, an air supplier extending throughout the length and along the bottom in said chamber and located nearer to one than to the other of the vertical side walls o! said chamber, the walls oi' the chamber being rounded to direct the circulation of the sewage caused by the escape oi air from said air supplier in a substantially predetermined path horizontally across the top of the chamber, downwardly adjacent the side Wall farthest from the air supplier, and again horizontally across the bottom of the chamber toward and over the air supplier, the rounded portion adjacent the iloor ofthe chamber serving also to prevent deposits oi solid matter, the sewage to be treated being admitted to said chamber at one end thereof and withdrawn from said chamber at the opposite end thereof so that particles of sewage or solid matter are caused lto flow generally spirally through said chamber connected with one another, air suppliers arranged near one side wall and throughout the length in each chamber, the interior surface of the chamber being formed with curved portions.

5 relatively arranged to compel the circulation of fluid under the action of the air supplier vertically of and across the upper portion and bottom of said tank, the ow through said chambers from end to end diverting such circulation into a spiral iiow within each of the chambers of said tank.

4. A sewage purification tank having side walls and end walls, with transverse partitions divid- 

